Business cards are an essential part of any organization or company's sales, marketing and branding plans, but they have a negative environmental impact when printed on large scales. It is a known problem all over the world that paper along with other multimaterials is causing a lot of damage to the environment.
Paper represents 25% of waste deposited in landfills and 42% of all wood collected worldwide is used to make paper.
Did you know?
It takes 324 liters of water to make 1kg of paper and 6 million trees are destroyed every year to produce 100 billion business cards worldwide.
88% of business cards are discarded within a week and only 33% of cards are recycled.
Within a week of exchanging a paper business card, 88% of the cards will be discarded in the trash and the other 12% may end up in someone's contact list at the bottom of a drawer or in the recycling bin.
However, there is one issue that we must take into consideration before having a business card produced.
What alternative material can I use to produce a business card and how will the cycle close after use?
This is where some of the alternative materials available come in to communicate your brand while protecting the environment:
Seed Paper Cards Life in a Bag is a Portuguese company that prints business cards on seed paper which, after use, can be placed in the ground to germinate flowers or aromatic plants.
Compostable biomaterial cards Agro biomaterials is a Spanish company that produces business cards from organic waste that decomposes in 3 years and are laser engraved, which means they do not use ink. This way they obtain 100% sustainable, ecological, and compostable cards.
Stamped business cards Stamping that leftover cardboard or paper is a sustainable alternative for two reasons: firstly you customize the number of cards needed without extracting more raw material and secondly, you only have to purchase a stamp with your company data and stamp it on various physical supports (paper, wood, napkin, paper towel on a restaurant table... creativity has no limits.
Digital business cards This solution is one of the most sustainable because it does not require raw materials or paint. Just one simple click and you can share your personalized business card via mobile phone or email. Nowadays, there are several free platforms with templates where you can enter any data you need, including email, website, mobile phone, and much more.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to have a business card in both physical and digital format, because many times we can be in a place without Internet or without a battery and the only solution will be to offer a paper business card. Sustainable business cards must be made from mono material so that they can be easy to recycle or decompose.
#businesscards #alternativematerials #sustainability #stationary #sustainabledesign #seedpaper #biomaterial
Comments